HARROW Council Tax Campaign may field candidates in the next local elections.

The campaign's leaders confirmed at a packed public meeting on Monday that they were considering fighting the council elections in May 2005, if it was what their supporters wanted.

The news came in response to a question from Hatch End resident Ron Porter.

HCTC spokesman Stanley Sheinwald said: "We are considering it, but we will do it only if the public ask us to. At the moment, we wouldn't make any firm decisions. It depends what happens over the next two years, in the run-up to the next election."

One tactic would be to mount challenges in wards held by members of the council cabinet, including council leader Archie Foulds, his deputy Navin Shah, and finance portfolio holder Sanjay Dighe.

More than 150 campaign supporters packed the Victoria Hall in Sheepcote Road, Harrow, for the meeting, which was sponsored by the Harrow Times.

Several Conservative councillors also attended, including group leader Councillor Richard Romain, his deputy Councillor David Ashton, and Paul Osborn, Eric Silver, John Nickolay and Adrian Knowles. Campaign leaders said they were disappointed that no Labour councillors had turned up.

The meeting unanimously endorsed the campaign's committee and officers, including chairman Berjis Daver, secretary Mr Sheinwald, and treasurer Mike Fitzgerald.

Mr Sheinwald reiterated HCTC's aims, saying: "The next council tax rise should be no higher than the rate of inflation. The council has had six years of doing what it likes. Anything we don't like, we will campaign against."

Addressing absent council leaders, he added: "We do not work for you, but you are elected by us and work for us."

He said that HCTC needed to increase the number of signatures on its petition from the current 17,000 to 25,000 by Christmas, and asked supporters to do everything they could to gather more signatures over the coming weeks and to write letters to the council's ruling Labour group.

He also asked for donations to the fighting fund, and a collection raised over 280.

Mr Sheinwald renewed the campaign's appeal for supporters to cancel direct debits and to pay their council tax by cheque to "try to throw the system into confusion without breaking the law".

"If you pay later than usual, the council will have no idea of how much money is coming in," he said.

He offered the campaign's support and advice to anyone who faced problems from the council for taking this action or because of their inability to pay their tax bills.

Several supporters publicly thanked the Harrow Times for giving the campaign a voice, and the editor, Charlie Harris, told the meeting that it was not the newspaper's campaign, but mass movement which had risen from the grassroots.

Conservative Ashton said after the meeting: "I think this has been a great example of grassroots public opinion. It applies pressure to the Labour group, and, if it fails to listen it will pay the electoral price."

HCTC now has a website, www.hctc.ag-netcom.net. Cheques payable to "Harrow Council Tax Campaign" can be sent to the NatWest Bank in Uxbridge Road, Hatch End, quoting account number 88004651 and sort-code 60-10-16.